Time To Admire Art In Secret Habitat

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I like Secret Habitat. I like it an awful lot. I’ve been playing this latest from Strangethink Software for a fortnight and I keep returning to see more but it’s taken me this long to post because I want to do right by it. Oh, this’ll have to do! Secret Habitat is wonderful and special, okay?

Secret Habitat goes down on a weird island covered in weird, stark buildings that I’d happily explore even if they weren’t art galleries. Each floor of each gallery houses a collection of procedural art which, well, I say is by a procedural artist. They seem to use a similar algorithm, or similar parts, or similar something, as colours, patterns, and other motifs repeat across them; you can recognise they’re part of a series. Seeing different spins on common themes can be delightful, and it’s awfully exciting when you discover one painting very different to the rest of its set – yeah, I’ve gasped.

I also like how Secret Habitat has thought put into its walking. Inside galleries we’re reverential, stepping gently (I’d swear it differentiates between the shuffles and full steps of gallery-walking), but outside we run wild and free. Art deserves respect, you know. Or… you know, you could have a fun/infuriating chat about where exactly the art lies in Secret Habitat, and if it contains individual pieces of art or it’s all one thing or which part is the most art or… Me, I like staring out windows as if they frame paintings; is there a distinction between the landscape and paintings?

Naturally, a new island and new art are generated each time you load Secret Habitat. Oh, and the game masks all this generation behind a procedural quote. How very splendid.

I enjoy Strangethink as a being quite a lot, and Secret Habitat may be my favorite thing they’ve cooked up yet. I tend to play for only 10 minutes or so at a time, but I still keep going back to it when I have a certain feeling.

I agree with you, Alice, my favorite part is staring out the windows! The landscape is so beautiful behind the window tints. I was also a fan of the subtle modulation of the walking mechanic, and I actually just love the kinesthetic feel of the jump when outside, so I’ll be running and hopping over slime puddles as much as I’m looking at the artworks.

My only criticism is that the procedural music seems much more homogeneous than the art (your term “sound exhibits” is probably more accurate). Maybe it’s just because I’m a musician, but I was really hoping it would be a bit more varied.

Regardless, I do enjoy this thing, and it’s also just made me even more interested in what Strangethink cooks up next (which looks excellent and intriguing so far, judging by their Twitter).

I think Strangethink are ahead of the game, when it comes to procedural generation. We’ve not seen any buildings in No Man’s Sky, apart from what appears to be assets made in advance, placed in the landscape procedurally (Fuel did the same trick). I’m much more interested in procedurally generated urban areas. Strangethink, Tom Betts and Delacian seem to be one of the few people exploring this area.

I like reading your posts.
I like that you record videos about these games.
I like that I can watch these videos embedded in the article.
I like the videos, and your ability to connect with these worlds. (I definitely could learn a thing or two from your ability to be fascinated)
I like that I can’t remember how RPS was before you came along, and I’m not sure I’d want to.

“I like that I can’t remember how RPS was before you came along, and I’m not sure I’d want to.”
Well, I’m sure I wouldn’t – Alice is the best thing that happened to RPS, and I actually wish she’d write WOT’s also (or even better made videoWOT’s).